Letters: 'Stay in your lane' Detroiters are on dead-end path

Mar. 2, 2013

Apparently the new cliche in Detroit is "stay in your own lane" -- meaning stay out of Detroit politics. Shades of Coleman Young.

So, those of us in the burbs will stop going to work in Detroit, so we can stop paying income taxes and parking fees. We will stop going to baseball games, football games, hockey games and basketball games. We can also stop going to the Fox Theatre, the Detroit Library and the Detroit Historical Museum. No ticket taxes and no parking fees.

With none of us going downtown, Mike Ilitch won't build his hockey stadium. When the new bridge is built, we won't have to go into Detroit to go to Canada.

A resident's pride in Detroit is one thing, but to say that the people who live in the suburbs don't have an interest in what happens there is ridiculous.

A lot of us were born there. The fact that we moved away doesn't mean we have lost interest and shouldn't be concerned about its future. As long as this us-vs.-them thing goes on, Detroit is going to be in trouble. A big city is just as dependent on its suburbs as the suburbs are on the big city.

Robert J. Shoens

Northville

Detroit and Michigan

To those who continue to say "stay in your own lane" to outsiders, I have another phrase for you: "Stop being provincial."

Yes, Detroiters deal daily with the lack of services, the crime, ineffective government and other problems, but when true outsiders (those living outside of the state or even the U.S.) think of Michigan, they think "Detroit" -- the same way you think Chicago for Illinois, New Orleans for Louisiana, Boston for Massachusetts, etc. For good or ill, Detroit represents Michigan.

I remember long ago when I vacationed in New York City, I heard jokes about "Murder City" and Devil's Night arson. Guess what city New Yorkers were making fun of. It was not pleasant then (when I was still a Detroiter), and it's not pleasant now.

So the advice may be unwanted, but Detroit is a joke -- and no one else in Michigan is laughing.

Christine Tomassini

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Livonia

Still part of city

I, too, have left the city limits to live in suburbs. I am not white. But I did have an issue with my house being broken into -- two different locations and three cars being stole, also from different locations.

A Detroiter's letter to the editor last Sunday ("A message to outsiders") suggested I should have stayed to fight it out.

I have not had any of these issues since moving out 17 years ago. I'm in Detroit quite often, as I have many family members still living there. Having lived in Detroit for more than 30 years and still frequenting our city now, commenting on Detroit is staying in my own lane!

Rich Ybarra

Harrison Township

More than a 'little' help

Last Sunday's letter "A message to outsiders" showed, once again, the typical attitude displayed by those wishing upon a star. The cry of "stay in your own lane" creates the image of "don't question what we do; just give us money and stay out of our business."

One of the letter's many laughable statements dealt with "Detroit has had and is still having issues with crime, education, poor economy and parents with poor parenting skills." It shows that the letter writer at least realizes a portion of the problem, but then she condemned those who left the city for creating the problem.

What really broke me up was another plea for understanding when she said: "The point is that every time Detroiters are able to get a little relief, it comes with strings attached." Strings attached? Does the letter writer go to the bank to get a loan, or buy a car, without strings attached?

The letter writer appears to have the notion that there shouldn't be any strings attached for the billions of our tax dollars already pumped into Detroit. But in her eye's, billions are "a little relief."